Indexed book



(N0 Mdel.)

E. LEPEBURE, Jr.

INDEXED BOOK.

No. 612,724. Patented Jan. 16, 1 894.

EMIL LEFEBUREL'JR, OF FAIRFAX, IOWA.

'FINDEXED BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,724, dated January 16, 1894. I

Application filed January 23, 1893. Serial No. 459,469. (llo model.)

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, EMIL LEFEBURE, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Fairfax, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvement-s in Indexing Systems for Blank Books, 850.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the construction of blank books, more particularly books of account; and has for its chief object certain improvements in the system and mode of in.- dexing, whereby the subject matter (an account, for example) may be very quickly found, the index itself being sufficiently full and explicit, while at the same ti'me occupying a comparativelysmall space in the book. The means by which these results are secured will clearly appear in the description following, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents the invention as applied to a ledger, and Fig. 2 a subordinate division thereof, embracing one general class or group, the group shown being the names in the ledger beginning with the lettenL.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding' parts.

Referring to the drawings, A is the index page, and B one of the account pages of a ledger. The book itself is divided into sections alphabetically arranged, the leaves being preferably cut away at the edge in a series of steps, suitably lettered, in a common and well known way. Thus, in Fig. 1, the group at the left contains all the Ks, while the names beginning with L are included in the group at the right. This I do not of course claim to be newin any sense. Myimprovement, however, consists in a peculiar arrangement and construction of subordinate indexes for each group. This is shown in both figures of the drawings. On sheet A are written in regular order the names heading the several accounts under the appropriate letter, L for example. The index page is divided by a single vertical line in the middle of the page, and to the left of this line are away portions of the leaves.

written the names heading accounts on the In order that the accountsmay be readily found from the subordinate indexes I provide the margin of the leaf opposite the name in the index with a nick d, which terminates with the leaf on which the account is to be found. Thus, to illustrate by reference to the drawings, the Dick (1 is placed directly opposite the names of A. R. Lamb and of C. S. Lane & 00., and as the accounts of each arej ust over the page, the nick is only through a single leaf. The accounts of Lamb &Lyon and C. S. Lane (not shown) are supposed to be on the following pages, however, so the nick d opposite those names extends through two leaves, and so on indefinitely. The accountant finds the proper place by placing his thumb in the nick opposite the desired name, and opening the book at that point.

, I am aware that it is not new to provide the separate groups of an alphabetically divided book with subordinate divisions, by cutting But I am not aware of any system of indexing which admits of the names being Written out in full on a single page, with nicks leading directly to the subject matter. Hitherto it has been customary to put the subordinate index letters or symbols on the page at the bottom of the nick. This of course demanded that the index name or sign be no larger than the nick, and the abbreviation thus required was both inconvenient and annoying, the smallness of the reference matter shown in the nick rendering the index obscure. In my device this is entirely obviated, since the name may be written as large and full as may be desired, easily discerned on the page, and as readily found in the body of the book by means of the nick described.

While more particularly applicable to ac count books, and other blank books of that nature, the system is applicable to printed publications as well.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim- 1. A system of indexing blank books and the like, combining the following elements: a book supply divided into groups of leaves, as by alphabetical division, and containing the general subject matter, an index page at the beginning of each group or general division, suitable index names or symbols written thereon, and nicks in the margin of the leaf opposite such names or symbols, which nicks terminate with the leaf on which the subject matter referred to by the respective index names or signs is Written.

2. A system of indexing blank books and the like, combining the following elements: a general alphabetical division of the book as described, index pages at the beginning of each group, index names written in two columns on such pages, those in the left hand column referring to matter on the left hand pages, and those in the right hand column to matter on right hand pages, and nicks in the margins of the leaves opposite the index names, terminating in each case at the page referred to by the respective index names.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EMIL LEFEBURE, JR.

Witnesses:

L. A. S1. J OHN, JOSEPH KUBICEK. 

